Turned To Stone

Chapter 9 - Zoe

"Zoe, sweetheart, do you know how Evan... came to be?" Cynthia asked.

Zoe shrugged, poking at her food. "No clue. I think his mom's a witch. She probably did something witchy."

"Witchy?" Larry questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know what else you want me to call it, Dad. Witchy. Like witchcraft. You know, like I'm studying?" Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Don't get a tone with me-"

"Larry." Cynthia said softly, laying a hand on her husband's arm.

"I'm just saying, she should be capable of explaining herself without being rude and snarky."

Zoe grumbled a nonsense spell under her breath.

Larry froze and glared at her. "What did you just do?"

"Nothing."

"What did I tell you about doing magic at the table, young lady?"

Zoe forced herself not to roll her eyes again.

"Not to."

"And I also told you not to lie to me. What did you do?"

She sighed and held her free hand up. A little string of light was bouncing from fingertip to fingertip in little golden arcs. Zoe snapped her fingers and the string disappeared.

"We've talked about this, Zoe."

"It's not like it does anything."

"You never know when magic could go wrong, Zoe!" Cynthia insisted.

Zoe huffed. "Mom, it's a seventh grade level spell! I'm a junior in high school!"

"That doesn't make it exempt from the rules we have set up in this house!" Larry barked.

"Fine, I'll just go eat dinner in my room like Connor!" Zoe shoved her chair back and grabbed her plate.

"Sit down!" She ignored her father and stormed up the stairs with the half-eaten plate of spaghetti.

"ZOE!"

Larry's footsteps didn't pound up the stairs after her, so Zoe assumed her mother was attempting to calm him down. She smacked the flat of her palm on Connor's door out of habit and heard the responding thump of what was probably his shoe.

Then she slammed her own door closed and plopped the plate of food on her desk.

"Fs mudl."

The lock on the door clicked shut with a flicker of blue light.

Zoe flopped onto her bed with a sigh of annoyance, face-planting in the pillows.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Go away!"

There was no answer, then she heard a click.

Zoe shoved herself into a sitting position. "Dad, since when is there a key for my room- oh. Hi Evan."

He stood in the doorway shyly.

"Are- are you okay?"

She sighed. "I'm fine. How did you get in here?"

Evan pointed a thumb over his shoulder and Zoe leaned sideways to peek out the door.

Connor scuffed his boot on the floorboard.

"Can we-we c-come sit- like h-hang out- sit with you?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You want to?"

Evan nodded at the same time Connor shook his head. She rolled her eyes at him and nodded to Evan.

"Sure if you want to."

He came over and sat down, then flashed Connor a series of hand signals.

Zoe's eyes lit up. "You know ASL?"

Evan startled, then nodded quickly. "I-I learned it- it helps m-me- I can t-talk faster- faster."

She nodded slowly. "That makes sense... so is that how you and Connor have been talking?"

"Yeah." Connor said flatly, plopping down onto the rug next to Evan and staring fixedly at the stitching on the edge of it.

It was rare that Zoe actually looked at her brother. Like, looked at him in a way that would give her more information about him.

He was wearing his beanie, which she was grateful for. She hated his stupid little companions. Disgusting devils. He had his sleeves rolled up for once. She didn't look to hard.

Connor had made her life a living hell for the past ten years. She wasn't going to go looking for reasons to feel sorry for him.

Evan nudged Connor and began to sign again.

'Maybe you could talk to more people like this?'

Zoe was actually surprised to feel a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. It was really sweet to see Evan looking out for Connor, even though she hated her brother's guts and wanted to kick him in the head for even being in her room.

"No one wants to talk to me." Connor shrugged one shoulder half-heartedly.

"Get out of my room you emo." Zoe rolled her eyes.

She looked away when his head shot up and he glared at her.

Evan reached over and gently laid his hand on Connor's arm. He grunted and dragged himself to his feet.

"This is why I lock myself in my room, Evan." He said in a surprisingly resigned tone before walking out of the room.

[A/N As always, tips on writing Evan's stutter/stammer are appreciated]